Launchings

Rusty Wendt of Greensboro, North Carolina recently built Shearwater Sport kayak, which he named OSPREY.

Fred Shell of Shell Boats in St. Albans, VT designed this Swifty 14, which Mort Stant built. He painted the hull blue, the cockpit white, and varnished the deck and seats. Mort writes that it was fun to build and sails great.

Alan Powell uses this 9' skiff for fishing and exploring the Berowra Waters on the Hawkesbury River, north of Sydney, Australia. She is a Karl Stambaugh "Weekend Skiff 3" design that appears in the book Good Skiffs.

Lary Kuhns built this 19′ drift boat, IACOBOS from plans by Jerry Estes of British Columbia.  IACOBOS is very rugged, with a 1″ bottom of CVG fir, glassed inside and out.  Lary uses the boat to fish the Kenai River near his home in Homer, Alaska.  

Jonathan White of Victoria, Australia built this Acorn dinghy in just five months. It is made of 6mm marine plywood and hoop pine with five coasts of varnish all around, and another five coats inside for good measure.

Bob Chaput and Dick Dowdell built this Peeler Skiff from a John Harris-designed Chesapeake Light Craft kit. She will carry children and grand children fishing and digging clams in the salt waters of Southern New England.

In June 2011, Richard Van Voris, the boatman for the Tabor Academy crew in Marion, Massachusetts, launched a 27′ x12″ single scull designed by Graeme King. Richard built the hull from 1/8″ red cedar strips , reinforced with carbon fiber, and covered with epoxy.

“Rhode Runner” is a stitch and glue wooden craft reminiscent of the 1950’s style runabouts designed by Chesapeake Light Craft. Brian Daniels built the runabout over the winter of 2023/24 and was launched on May 29, 2024 on beautiful Higgins lake, Michigan. 

A fun and easy winter season build of the Chesapeake Light Craft Paddleboard from plans and a frame kit. I really wanted some colours that popped, hence the orange patterned cloth and blue grip pads.  Total build time was probably less than 75 hours.